Relationship Killers

Collaboration in any organization requires three elements – effective communication, a cooperative attitude, and integrated teams. All three of these elements are based on the principles of human factors psychology which is the study of human behavioural patterns and thinking patterns and their influence on creating a better workplace, product, system and so on. Furthermore, the task of creating and sustaining collaboration is in essence informed by human factors psychology. In other words, human factors psychology explains how people work, why people must work together, and how people relate to each other and their environment.

People do not work in isolation. Nearly everything we do requires that we connect and collaborate with other people. As organizations continue to become more complex and advanced technologically, more ambiguous, and more demanding, the need for people to effectively connect and collaborate has never been greater.

The three elements of collaboration (effective communication, a cooperative attitude, and integrated teams) must have, at their foundation, strong and positive relationships with high trust levels. The challenge for leaders and managers is to observe, identify, and adjust behavioural inadequacies that pose a barrier to the formation of highly effective relationships that in turn drive successful collaborations. Collaborations can be formed by any individuals or groups, but it cannot be sustained long enough to yield the desired results in the absence of highly effective relationships.

The underlying message here is that no matter how highly skilled a person is technically, without strong behavioural skills the ability to collaborate will be, at best, very elusive. That being said, perhaps the most important challenge for a leader is to guide others to conform to the desired mindset and behaviours that create and sustain highly effect relationships. To do so, leaders must begin to eliminate the following relationship killers from the organizational culture and internal relationships of their teams:
• Lack of integrity
• Self-centeredness
• Ineffective communication
• Misaligned/lack of clear expectations
• Emotional blackmail
• Unresolved conflict
• Gossip
• Taking more than you give
• Negative attitude
• Not investing enough time and energy
• Failure to change and grow
• Failure to forgive/holding a grudge

These behaviours top the list for disrupting communication, fostering uncooperative attitudes, eroding trust, and breeding dysfunctional teams.

CORPORATE HARMONY is grateful to Dr. Michael E. Frisina for his contributions to this entry.